44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, in Canada if we had not had hundreds of thousands of people laid off in the resource sector who had very good-paying jobs, if we did not have 40-year inflation where people can barely buy food and groceries, maybe it would not be such an issue that they would not be able to afford their basic necessities and not be able to afford child care.
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Mr. Speaker, of course quality, affordable child care is what every Canadian wants for their child. There is not a parent or person watching who does not want their child to have the best, to have access to the best.
In the member's speech, she said that this program enhances child care. We have seen that the Liberals did not account for inflation. In fact, as quoted in The Globe and Mail, many child care facilities are having to decide whether or not to cut their food programs. The Liberals did not account for inflation and, in fact, it is not enhancing the child care experience.
What is the member's rebuttal to that?
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- Jan/31/23 2:26:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are plain and straight about the difficult times that we are going through as a planet. I would suggest that when the member opposite had the opportunity to suggest, as an example, how people could deal with inflation, he recommended cryptocurrency.
This is the party that at every opportunity is actually not offering any solutions. In fact, the Conservatives are ignoring the fact that when they had a chance to act on poverty and when they had a chance to act on creating jobs, their party had such a bad record on the GDP that there were 14 times in history when there was more growth in a single year than the Conservatives had in their entire government.
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- Jan/31/23 2:33:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of Liberal mismanagement leaves a legacy of being the most expensive government with some of the worst outcomes in history. While Liberals help their cronies with millions of dollars in handouts, Canadians have never had it so bad. One in five Canadians are skipping meals; they are out of money and accessing charity services. Two former Liberal finance ministers agree with the Conservatives. Bill Morneau admitted that the Liberals overspent during the pandemic, and now, even former Liberal finance minister John Manley is warning that the Liberals' reckless spending is fuelling inflation.
Why is the government determined to make Liberal insiders rich off the empty stomachs of Canadians?
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- Jan/31/23 2:34:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current Prime Minister, Canadians have doled out $15 billion for consultants; in return, they get chaos at airports, growing immigration backlogs and 40-year highs in inflation. Our constituents have skipped meals; they have visited food banks in record numbers. They reel from Liberal inflation-driven interest rate hikes. They have spent Canadian tax dollars on giveaways to well-connected insiders and they blame everyone else. After eight years, there is no one to point fingers at anymore.
When will the Prime Minister stop the giveaways to his friends and start working for ordinary Canadians?
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- Jan/31/23 2:47:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, inflation is at a 40-year high as a result of the government's inflationary spending. The government has handed over $100 million in contracts to McKinsey & Company, with one contract not sunsetting until the year 2100. While Canadians have never—
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- Jan/31/23 2:48:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, inflation is at a 40-year high as a result of the government's inflationary spending. The government has handed over $100 million in contracts to McKinsey & Company, with one contract not sunsetting until the year 2100. While Canadians have never had it so bad, Liberal insiders and consultants have never had it so good.
Why does the Prime Minister and the government not come clean and tell us how much they promised Dominic Barton and McKinsey & Company?
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Mr. Speaker, as I outlined in my speech, one of my greatest concerns with this legislation is that the government cannot give us a full estimation of what the program is going to cost. If the government is going to provide child care for the 182,000 families the PBO has estimated would be left out of the program, how many billions of dollars more would need to be added to the program to maintain it? How has the government projected the cost of inflation from the increased government spending and increased government debt? Has the government projected what taxes would have to be increased to maintain this program?
I am very concerned. We have not been given a straightforward, clear fiscal plan from the government on how it is going to maintain the program. Frankly, it is shame, because it is going to be a two-tiered system where low-income families are left out in the cold and high-income families, disproportionately, are going to get the benefits.
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- Jan/31/23 6:02:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think we have to say that we all know global inflation is stretching the budgets of many Canadians. This is why we have put together a comprehensive affordability plan.
Whether someone is a student, in a young family, a working professional or a senior, our government has worked hard to make life more affordable and to build an economy that works for everyone. While Canada's inflation is down from 8.1% to 6.3%, and has continued to trend down over the last six months, it is still far too high. Our fiscal prudence to date has ensured that Canada's inflation levels have remained below those of our economic peers, including the United States, which is currently at 6.5%; Europe, at 9.2%; and the United Kingdom and the OECD, each of which are over 10%, but there is obviously more work to do.
Our government's track record of continuously ensuring that we lower our debt-to-GDP ratio, outside of the pandemic, has helped assure that Canada has retained its AAA credit rating. In fact, Canada now enjoys both the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. Our job recovery plan has also paid dividends. We have recovered 121% of jobs lost since the pandemic; that is 659,000 jobs created by Canadians.
It is this economic strength that allows our government to fund programs like the GST rebate, an initiative that helped 11 million Canadians, more than 50% of our seniors, cope with the increases in prices. I think this is an excellent example to share in the House tonight, and to start with, because it is an initiative that my hon. colleague supported. I rightfully thank him and his party for their support.
We have also taken other measures, such as eliminating interest on student loans and introducing dental care for children under 12. In fact, I am happy to report that more than 150,000 children have now had a chance to see a dentist, thanks to the program, which lifts a significant burden from those kids' parents. Those parents should also benefit from our Canada child benefit and our new child care program. The Conservatives said child care was wasteful, but now they seem to be leaning toward supporting it. I welcome their support. It is a great program that will allow hundreds of thousands of parents to go back to work. This is good for young families, and it is also good for our kids and our economy.
I think putting a price on pollution will be a similar lesson for Conservatives. They are opposing it today, despite the fact that they supported it in the last election. They campaigned on it, in fact. It was a worse version of it, but it was putting a price on pollution nonetheless.
Contemporary Conservative policy is actually pretty hard to follow overall, ever since the new leader took over. If we look closely at the solutions they suggested, we will discover that they are not solutions at all. They want to raid the pension benefits of seniors. That is the payroll taxes my friend opposite was referring to. They want to stop fighting climate change. That is the “triple, triple, triple” or eliminating the price on pollution. Their plan is literally to make pollution free again.
The leader of their party has even recklessly offered investment advice, and now many Canadians took that advice and lost their life savings as a result. The Leader of the Opposition does not think it is reckless, does not think it is inappropriate and will not even apologize for it.
We, as a government, are going to continue finding innovative and responsible solutions to make Canada more affordable, to create high-paying sustainable jobs and to build an economy that works for everyone.
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- Jan/31/23 6:07:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think if individuals were to objectively go through the speech I presented with the solutions that are being proposed by the government, in fact some of those solutions are already implemented, and the non-solutions I also presented on behalf of some of the things the Conservatives have brought forward over the last six months, I think that they would see objectively that we are actually doing things that are helping make life more affordable for Canadians. At the same time, we are doing it in a fiscally prudent way to make sure we get inflation under control. We can help get Canadians through these tough times in an appropriate and responsible way while simultaneously ensuring the government acts with prudence while addressing the impacts of global inflation.
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